How Third-Party Administrators Influence Employee Benefits Programs

FREMONT, CA: There are two ways to secure employee group benefits: employers can obtain benefits directly from an insurer or through a Third-Party Administrator (TPA). A TPA is a specialized company that manages and delivers employee benefits for businesses but does not underwrite or assume the risk associated with insuring the benefit plans.

This is in contrast to traditional insurance businesses, which originated as insurers. They were founded to underwrite employee benefit plans, and their primary activity is risk assessment and insurance. For insurance companies, employee benefits administration and delivery services were simply a required addition to the business in order to supply their product to customers. Insurance companies have existed for a long time. While third-party administrators are a relatively new addition to the employee benefits scene, they have been around for quite some time. Notably, third-party administrators were developed in response to administration and delivery issues that many businesses were experiencing with insurance.

There are numerous reasons for choosing a third-party administrator for employee benefits, but here are three of the finest that are noted below:

The best products: One benefit of having a third-party administrator is that businesses are not required to use the same insurance company for all of their coverage. This is not true when dealing with an insurer. Dealing directly with an insurer may require employers to accept certain subpar items in addition to the good ones.

The situation is different if employers use a third-party administrator. With a third-party administrator, they can have both the health and dental products from one insurer and the life insurance products from another. A third-party administrator selects the finest products from several insurers and bundles them together for businesses. This allows organizations to receive the greatest items without having to deal with different insurers or bills.

Furthermore, a third-party administrator wields significant power with insurers depending on the total amount of insurance acquired on behalf of customers.

Save money: Working with a third-party administrator can help employers save money. When they contact an insurance provider, they are simply a small fish in a very large sea. They don't have much bargaining power when it comes to getting decent deals.

Improved employee benefits experience: Most third-party administrators are far smaller than insurance companies. Walking employees through self-registration, reminding them of enrollment deadlines, and reporting everything back to their plan administrator saves businesses a lot of time and stress.